I was reading the first page and saw that at least one person, if not more were all "Bait and switch". Allow me to state my opinion as a member, rather than a moderator - but that is just a silly statement. Bait and switch implies that you were led astray purposefully. It's a con-artist tactic. If you are implying that Bethesda somehow said "let's fool people early on with one or two dungeons", then clearly you have not played the game very far. Or played it with fun in mind.

I feel like people have just lost some sort of common sense perspective. You are playing a game - there is programming, assets and scripting behind the curtains. It's not bloody magic, folks. I have 250 hours in. I was still running into things that made me smile. Unique items placed deliberately, some telling a story, some obviously to make me smile. A different trap. A small story within a random dungeon. A view or interior that is cool. I am damned impressed with the scope of the dungeons in this game. Some have been spectacular set pieces, in the service to a significant story. Some have been clever, one-off finds, in service of nothing more than rewarding you for going into a random cave. And some of have just been dungeons, that I can clear, find loot, sometimes a tough fight, sometimes a statue.

I was reading the first page and saw that at least one person, if not more were all "Bait and switch". Allow me to state my opinion as a member, rather than a moderator - but that is just a silly statement. Bait and switch implies that you were led astray purposefully. It's a con-artist tactic. If you are implying that Bethesda somehow said "let's fool people early on with one or two dungeons", then clearly you have not played the game very far. Or just play games to have fun anymore.

I feel like people have just lost some sort of common sense perspective. You are playing a game - there is programming, assets and scripting behind the curtains. It's not bloody magic, folks. I have 250 hours in. I was still running into things that made me smile. Unique items placed deliberately, some telling a story, some obviously to make me smile. A different trap. A small story within a random dungeon. A view or interior that is cool. I am damned impressed with the scope of the dungeons in this game. Some have been spectacular set pieces, in the service to a significant story. Some have been clever, one-off finds, in service of nothing more than rewarding you for going into a random cave. And some of have just been dungeons, that I can clear, find loot, sometimes a tough fight, sometimes a statue, or a skill book or whatever.

I was "sold" a game that says "go, explore, have fun." And that is what I got.

I am not the most subtle of people and possibly I stated things too bluntly this time.
But I do feel that the first part of the game has gotten significantly more attention than the endgame.
For me there was a significant difference between the beginning and end of the main quest even, in that the last quarter or so of it felt very bare-bones. All the ingredients were there, there was just not enough padding, not enough flesh to really engage me.
Similar things can be noted about for instance the differences between Riverwood and Winterhold, or Dawnstar.

As others have pointed out on this thread there could be a myriad of factors at play here, and I dont think anyone myself included thinks one of them is malice.

So I take that 'bait-and-switch' comment back.
I never meant to say that it was the intention, I meant that it was the feeling I got, but as I have the tendency to be too blunt, I should have just found other words.

maybe I'm not explaining myself.
the fact that you didn't liked some dungeons or the end of the main quest doesn't mean that it's the same for everyone, it's just YOUR OPINION, but still you are talking like your opinion is the only truth...(kinda reminds me of the stormcloaks single-minded lines)

Did you play Morrowind and Oblivion? Because if you did then you would understand what the OP meant. The first dungeon in Skyrim (Bleak Falls Barrow) and Oblivion (Vilverin) was way bigger than any of the rest in the games. Not only were they bigger, but there were put more ideas into these dungeons that the rest.

Except that Blackreach dungeon is bigger and way more spectacular than Bleak Falls Barrow.

And many of us believe you are entirely wrong and that there was much attention payed to many parts of the game, beginning, middle and end. So...maybe you were mistaken or maybe you are of that opinion but in fact more attention to detail was put into some other aspect of the game in reality.

Doesn't really matter if you accept that your opinion is just that...your opinion. And there is little to nothing to base it upon unless a dev comes out and says, "heck yes, we spent all our time making the start of the game but just spent the other several years throwing spitballs at one another using a desk top catapult. I would dare say that the devs have their reputation on the line and worked very hard on each and every part of this game start to finish and put their entire soul,into it and banked their career upon each and every part of the game. I'm sure in a game this size there had to be some filler but for the most part, there is something spectacular throughout the entire game. Of course you have to play it to find it all.

You're an idiot if you think Bethesda has the time to fine-tune EVERY ENVIRONMENT in the entire game. Release date would be Dec 2017.

In the real world, 'cities' contain more than a few houses and an inn. This isn't the real world though.

It may be hard to believe, but one can fail at complaining, too. Among all the complaints I have seen on this forum, some good and some bad ones, is this one an absolute fail.

Next time, if you cannot find anything to complain about then it could well be that it is all right!